Teachers really make a difference. Plano-raised Lauren Kate gives a special shout-out to Ms. Calloway of Renner Middle School in Plano for telling her a long time ago that she was an "enigma" and she should keep writing.

Lauren told me in this Q and A that she has striven to be an enigma every since (even as she revealed everything from the role Homecoming at Plano Senior High played in one of her books to the restaurants she is most looking forward to going to when she's back home - -save her a table at Spring Valley BBQ and La Duni, folks)!

Lauren, now living in Los Angeles with her husband and nine-month-old daughter, Matilda, is the author of the delicious, hypnotic best-selling series, Fallen, about fallen angels and the girls they love; the entire series has been optioned for the movies by Disney and the first film starts shooting in February. She has a new book out, Teardrop, about a girl who holds the secret of the lost continent of Atlantis, that is the first in a new planned series. She'll be at the Barnes and Noble at Southlake Friday at 7 p.m. and Books-A-Million in Longview at 2 p.m. Her appearances are free and open to the general public; you don't need tickets.

You were raised in Plano and you have said that you based one of your books, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove, on your years at Plano Senior High. Can you tell us more about that?Betrayal is a retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, told from Lady Macbeth's point of view--if she were a 17-year-old girl. I wanted to see what Lady Macbeth would do in Texas Homecoming culture. When I was in high school, I took for granted how spectacular our homecoming traditions were—like the massive silk mums! Most of my readers can't believe that Natalie's homecoming mum-anxiety (though her flower is called a Jessamine) mirrored mine.

Navigating high school requires mighty social skills; one way of reading Shakespeare's play is that Lady Macbeth is so talented socially that she gets carried away. Or: Social skill unmoored from morals leads to ruin. I saw that kind of thing happen in high school--but who hasn't?

Is there anything of Plano or Dallas in the first book of your new series, Teardrop, or any of your other books?Yes. It's inevitable. People close to me can open any of my novels and find little bit of me (and often a little bit of them) on every page. It's hard for me to distinguish those moments because, for writers, fact and fiction are constantly merging in our minds. But an old friend might call me and say "I'm on page 321—I remember when we hitchhiked that same route your character takes!"

What inspired Teardrop? The lost city of Atlantis plays a key role. When did that story first grip your imagination and why?I loved Noah's Ark as child—but not for the reasons we were supposed to in Sunday school (the cute animals marching two by two onto the ark). For me, the idea of sailing away from the end of the world and into an unknown was fascinating—and terrifying. Every culture in the world has a similar flood narrative in which a few survivors of a water apocalypse must restore a world worth living in. I fell in love with the legend of Atlantis: an ancient and very advanced civilization that suddenly vanished beneath the sea 5,000 years ago. We can't be sure exactly when, exactly where, or exactly why Atlantis sank. I wanted to bring Atlantis back, but I needed help. I found Eureka, my heroine, a girl whose tears have the power to flood our world and rise old worlds. But she was so tough, she never cried—until I found a way to break her heart. (Writers have to be cruel to their heroes to make their stories worth telling.)

Your last series, Fallen, is about fallen angels. You have said it was inspired by a line in Genesis and that you did many months of theological research for it. Can you tell us about the line that moved you and why? What did you discover in your research?Genesis 6:1-4 describes the sons of God (angels) looking down from Heaven and seeing the daughters of man (mortal women) on Earth—and they found them to be beautiful. There's another reference in Psalms and one more in Isaiah that—combined—suggest that this attraction to women is the reason the fallen angels (Satan et al.) were cast out of Heaven. They placed something above God. I found this theory to constitute a huge and complicated sacrifice to make for an untested love. So I wrote the book from the point of view of the girl who would make that sacrifice worthwhile. I worked with a divinity professor at the University of California, Davis to get my bibliography together. Some of my favorite texts were the strange, wonderful Books of Enoch, Harold Bloom’s Omens of Millennium, and Jeffrey Burton Russell’s trilogy on the devil throughout history. I discovered that the discrepancies about angels were unavoidable from text to text, and since I was writing a piece of fiction, I had to pick the details that were true to that world and not look back.

How long have you been writing? When did you know this is what you wanted to do?I've written for longer than I can remember, but I never knew anyone could "be" a writer as a career until I was in college and I took my first creative writing workshop with a working novelist, Jim Grimsley. Meeting Jim changed my life and from then on I only wanted to be a writer. But it took me ten years of sending out my stories and getting rejected before anyone said yes. It only takes one "yes."

Why do you write? What inspires you?I write love stories because I believe love is the most powerful force in the world. Art inspires me. Favorite novels inspire me. My nine-month-old daughter inspires me. Music inspires me. Couples I hear arguing on the street inspire me (and I follow them around the corner just to hear the girl's comeback and steal it for my novels). I find and seek inspiration everywhere. But, ultimately, I write because it's what I'm best at and I'm lucky enough to have a publisher who wants to release my books.

Why did you choose the young adult genre (or did it choose you)?I like writing about teenagers because they take so many risks. They aren't afraid to screw up yet and so they experience higher highs and lower lows than many adults. It makes for gripping fiction.

Teens are suspended between childhood and adulthood. They're at a very dramatic crossroads, naturally and alongside their peers. Everyone faces forks in the road, but only teens face them at the same time as their friends. Teenagers comprise a vast community of fork-in-the-road facers. I find that situation irresistible.

Romance and love play an important role in your work. Have you learned anything about love through the journeys of your characters? Do your characters surprise you or do you know what they will do right from the start of your books?My characters teach me about love and the struggle to love every day. People think love makes us dependent (and it does) but it also makes us more autonomous than we ever could be otherwise. True love allows us to discover our truest selves. I've watched my characters blossom into who they were always trying to become, via love.

Was it a challenge being a writer in sports-mad Texas? Did you have teachers and friends who understood and encouraged you?I'm a writer today because of my seventh grade English teacher at Renner. Her name was Ms. Calloway and I spent two years obsessed with trying to impress her (a difficult feat). When I turned in my final writing assignment she wrote back to me: "Lauren, you are an enigma. Keep writing." After I looked up what "enigma" meant and I realized my writing had made Ms. Calloway think I was mysterious—I felt like I'd been given a superpower. I wanted more people to think I was an enigma. I wanted to think it myself. So I did exactly what she said: I kept writing.

What role did college and graduate school play in your writing? Where were you in your education and your writer's journey when you sold your first book?I got a BA in Creative Writing at Emory and loved every second of every creative writing class I took there. I couldn't get enough. I wrote my first novel in college (it remains unpublished, fortunately) and decided to pursue a career in publishing so I could learn the other side of the book business. I worked as an editor at HarperCollins for five years, all the while writing my own books. After that I went to UC Davis for a masters degree in Creative Writing. I had just graduated from Davis when I got my first contract with Random House.

Can you tell us the story behind that first sale? Were you surprised or did you have confidence when you sent in that first manuscript?I wrote two novels and still have 67 rejection letters that I collected over the ten years when I was sending out those two practice novels. I almost quit writing Fallen because I thought no one would ever want to read it. But I sent it out to agents and a month later, one of them said yes. It opened a door. Very shortly after that Fallen was sold at auction to Random House and six months later I was holding the book in my hands—feeling a little like McFly at the end of Back To The Future.

How does it feel to have so many fans all over the world for your best-selling books, plus a movie version of Fallen, from Disney, in the works?My readers are endlessly inspiring to me. They ask the greatest questions and keep my writing intense.

Have you been involved in the filming of Fallen? Should we expect something that recreates the book or will the film be its own distinct creation? Is there anything you would like to share with fans about the actors playing the parts? Will more films in the series follow?I'm an executive producer on the film (all five books have been optioned). I adore the director, think the actors have fantastic chemistry, and am pleased with the way it's progressing. They've begun pre-production this week and will shoot in Hungary in February.

The most important aspect of the casting process has been the chemistry shared between the actors. Bigger names were up for the roles but the director (Scott Hicks) chose Addison Timlin, Jeremy Irvine, and Harrison Gilbertson because they're wonderful as an ensemble. And I applaud that decision.

Right now teens are very consumed with The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. The second movie in The Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, comes out this month and the first Divergent film will come out in March. Have you read these other series? What do you think of them? How do you feel your series compares to those series? Are there other series that have been as much or more of an inspiration for you?Divergent is on my to-read list, and I'm a huge Hunger Games fan. I also adore Lois Lowry (The Giver), Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Roald Dahl (Matilda is my favorite—and my daughter's name).

I leave the task of comparing my books to other writers' works to fans and critics. I don't want that kind of perspective—a writer has to protect the magic of the process.

You live in Los Angeles with your husband and child. Do they give you any tips, feedback or inspiration for your stories?My husband inspired Cam, the bad-boy demon in the Fallen series. He also inspired one of the key opening scenes in Teardrop between Eureka and the Ander boy she falls in love with. My daughter has opened my eyes to the world in countless new ways. It's a privilege to see though a child's wonder-filled gaze.

We are so happy that Dallas is one of just a handful of cities where you will be making stops on your book tour. Is there anyone special or any place special you are planning to visit while you're here? Is there any particular food or spot that you miss?I'll be at Spring Valley BBQ (for the rolls and brisket) and La Duni (for the tres leche cake). I like to see movies at the Angelika. I'd love to take my daughter to the Dallas Arboretum and the rodeo. And she'll be spending her first Halloween with her Dallas cousins Jordan and Hailey!

Is there anything you would like to add?Thanks for a wonderful and thorough interview! I'm happy to be coming home.